Not Always Lost
by TheSuperintendent
Summary: Jorge-052 gave his life to save Reach. After all, Slipspace "bombs" are supposed to eliminate targets, not transport them to another galaxy far away. Now Noble Five and what remains of a marine fire team must make it back to the fight before it ends, but not before witnessing the shifting sands of the Galactic Republic.
1. Those Who Wander

**Disclaimer: This story and the original characters that I create are the only thing that I own. Everything else belongs to 343 Industries and Lucas Film. **

**Setting: **

**One hour and Thirty-seven minutes into Operation: UPPER CUT. With the bridge of the **_**Ardent Prayer**_** cleared out and the ship now on a refueling track to the Covenant Supercarrier **_**Long Night of Solace, **_**all that remains for Noble Five and Six is to get off the doomed corvette alive…**

_**1207 Hours, August 14, 2552/**_

_**Epsilon Eridani System, In Orbit above Reach**_

_**Covenant Corvette, Ardent Prayer**_

Green plasma hissed by Lance Corporal Bryant's head, hitting the bulkhead behind him and melting the exotic purple metal it was composed of. Under any other circumstance, his training would have kicked in and made him run for cover. However, with adrenaline pumping freely through his veins, he took the opportunity to cut down the unfortunate lone Grunt that had decided to attack him.

"Ha-ha! Suck it!" He yelled as he exchanged his near depleted DMR magazine with a new one. His victory was cut short as the fiery blue color of a plasma grenade came into his vision. He was already diving for cover as it bounced once and landed near a pile of mismatched Jackal and Grunt bodies. The explosion sent the corpses flying through the air. One of the Grunt's tanks was breached and was now spinning it around in circles.

He turned to the opposite side of his cover and saw that Lieutenant Healy was right beside him, swapping out his pistol for a Covie one lying nearby.

"On your six!" Bryant yelled as an Elite appeared on the ramp behind the lieutenant and took aim with his needle rifle.

Before Bryant could even squeeze the trigger, the Elite's attention was drawn to the buckshot of a shotgun as it slammed into its shields, causing them to flare bright blue and collapse. The second shot pounded into its torso, killing the already wounded Elite in an explosion of indigo blood. Jumping down from the raised platform overhead was the seven foot-tall figure of Spartan Noble Six.

"Shit… took out one of those Spec Ops types too." Bryant gawked. He had watched a single Spec Ops Elite almost take down an entire platoon without any support.

"There's still a few more," Healy said, quickly examining the piece of alien tech he had picked up before tossing it behind him. "I'm not using this Covie crap. Toss me your sidearm, Bryant."

"Better give it back, sir."

"No promises," Healy replied as he raised himself from a crouch to look over their makeshift cover. Bryant did the same and was surprised to see that the Covenant already had their hands full. Both the Spartans that they were assisting on the operation were massacring the remaining Jackals and Elites.

"_These guys sure now how to kick ass, huh guys?_" Corporal McCarrey chimed in on the COM. Bryant didn't reply as he watched Noble Six throw a grenade into the collection of Jackals that hadn't been paying attention to their distance from each other. The resulting explosion killed two instantly while injuring the third who was finished off by Noble Five's portable turret.

All that remained of the hangar deck were two Elite minors who were quickly dispatched by the combined fire of what remained of Fire Team Charlie and the two Spartans.

"All clear, pee-wee," Healy said over the COM to McCarrey. "Get down here."

McCarrey sighed. "_Understood, sir." _He jogged down the ramp closest to the shield separating the atmosphere from the void of space. He attempted to reload his shotgun with new shells as he moved.

"_Savannah did a number on the door. There's no way back up to the Sabres." _Noble Five reported over the COM. "_Noble Six, form up on me. Marines, try to get the blasted doors working again."_

"That didn't sound too good, El-Tee." McCarrey said as he finally rejoined the group on the hangar deck.

"No kidding. You heard him, though." Bryant said as he shoved McCarrey towards the door. "You're the only one qualified here in alien tech. Work your magic."

"So suddenly I'm the genius engineer, huh?" McCarrey mumbled as he tore open what looked like a service panel ear the door. "Damned door doesn't have power."

"Can you fix it?" Healy inquired.

"I'll try working on it, sir. Can't promise anything, though." He replied as he pulled out his diagnostic pad and connected it to the wiring of the panel. The datapad was a gift from their "friends" at ONI in hope that the data retrieved from the operation could be used later on in the future.

Lieutenant Healy, confident that he would get results sooner or later, turned to the other remaining trooper in his fire team.

"What do you think they're talking about over there, Lieutenant?" Bryant asked, watching the Spartans talk over by the Pelican. "They've turned off their COMs."

"I don't know." Healy replied.

The two watched as Noble Five hit the Slipspace drive as if to get it to work. He turned to Noble Six and, from what Bryant and Healy could tell, started conversing. It was impossible to tell what the soldiers were doing with their helmets on.

"I'm guessing things aren't so good on their end either." Healy commented as Noble Five took off his helmet and allowed it to drop onto the deck.

"Sir, I think I've… almost got it." McCarrey said as he typed commands in furiously on the datapad, simultaneously going through its entire lexicon to find where the key components were and making corrections to any anomalies.

The larger Spartan took hold of the other's hand and lifted him up, slowly moving towards the shield door.

"Sir?" Bryant asked as he turned to his CO. "What is he doing?"

Noble Five paused at the shield door for a moment and tossed Noble Six through it, all the while watching as his comrade drifted down to Reach's surface. The corvette continued to accelerate to its target.

"What the hell just happened?" Bryant asked, extremely confused as to why the Spartan had betrayed the other.

"I don't-" Healy started to reply as he was cut off by McCarrey's laugh of triumph.

"Ha! Got the bastard to work!" He exclaimed as he stood up from the panel. The door slid open normally, revealing the hallway back to their docked ships, but yet another closed and unresponsive door.

Noble Five heard the commotion, retrieved his helmet and put it on. "_I'm sorry, Corporal. It doesn't really matter now."_ Noble Five said, his tone grim.

"What?" McCarrey asked just before the massive Spartan his the manual control panel and punched in the "go" command.

The Slipspace drive pulsed with sinister blue-black energy until it began to implode onto itself. Gravity sucked in everything towards it for a matter of moments and then suddenly stopped. The drive finally ended its foreboding display with the most basic and ancient spectacles in history: an explosion.

_**Time and Date: Unknown**_

_**Polith System**_

_**Freelance Freighter, Evasion is Key**_

Ricc Andolo was rudely awoken by the flashing klaxons that ran throughout his ship. Being the sole crewmember as well as pilot, he had expected more peace and quiet on his ship than he actually got.

He opened his eyes finally after listening to the blaring alerts that came from his navigation computer.

"Blast it." He mumbled to himself as he double checked his ship's current position. "I wasn't supposed to exit hyperspace for the next seven hours. Damned hyperdrive's acting up again."

He yawned, rubbing his eyes, and took a full diagnostic of his ship. Much to his amazement, the hyperdrive wasn't malfunctioning at all. He studied the technical readouts from the past hour and finally found the problem. A high-intensity electromagnetic pulse had managed to hit his ship, temporarily disabling all systems.

Including life support.

He frantically pulled of the status' of all essential systems and found them all to be working well within normal parameters.

"What the hell?" He said to no one in particular. There simply had never been spontaneous EMP encounters while traveling through hyperspace in the history of the Republic. He wasn't a physicist, but he knew something wasn't right.

Now content with the fact that he was in no immediate danger, he checked the ship scanners to see what was out in the void.

It only took a single sensor ping to discover an enormous mass only three-hundred-thousand meters away. Its composition was metallic, obviously, but of unknown materials. It didn't match any of the possible durasteel or plasteel alloys normally found on starships.

Ricc decided to actually see this behemoth mass and rotated his ship to face it.

It looked like a ship that had been broken into pieces. Armor plating and hull scaffolds freely floated in space. Electrical discharges came frequently from the exposed interior, and atmosphere flooded into the growing array of debris.

The poor bastard had taken quite a hell of a beating already, but the ship had yet an even more horrid fate to face.

Just off the ship's port section was the star of the Polith system, glowing a menacing orange as if in anticipation of claiming its new fuel source.

The ship, according to Ricc's ship sensors, was slowly being brought in by the star's gravity well.

In all of his years of piloting, travelling the galaxy for random and somewhat legitimate reasons, he had never come across anything like this.

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	2. Age of Reformation

_**Date and Time: Unkown/ **__**ERROR**__** / Mission Clock: + 1:48:17**_

_**Star System: Unknown**_

_**Covenant Corvette, Ardent Prayer**_

Jorge counted his breaths. Considering that he was supposed to be deceased, the action was somewhat more meaningful than under normal circumstances. He finally opened his eyes and was surprised to find that, instead of a stereotypical version of what one would imagine heaven to be, he was still on the Covenant ship.

Which meant he was still in danger. He jumped up from his lying position and sprinted to where he had placed his turret. He scanned the deck to see if any enemies were about to surround his position, but found none. The space outside the shield door was clear black, minus the floating debris of the Covenant supercarrier. He remembered the marines and tried raising them on the COM.

"Fire team Charlie? Respond." He said, but received no reply. Oddly enough, he was still receiving them on his list of IFF tags. "Lieutenant Healy, respond."

"Sir? Corporal Bryant here, sir." A voiced piped in over the COM. "We got stuck behind the door to the hangar when the drive blew. The lieutenant's down, sir. The hallway kind of collapsed on him."

"Stay put. I'll get you out." Jorge said as he began moving to the door, finding that the datapad McCarrey had been using was still wired into the door. He scrolled through the recent commands until he found the one that would repower the door.

The door slid open once more and revealed the marines trying to retrieve their CO without injuring him. Jorge took charge and moved the debris of metal, fiber optics, and circuitry with ease. McCarrey took out his personal MedKit that read: "_Remember, this is YOURS for when YOU get hit." _

"Bio-scan's showing a cracked rib. Nothing too serious, but he's out cold." McCarrey said with a sigh, removing his helmet and wiping sweat off his brow.

Jorge scooped up the marine gingerly over his shoulder, as to not cause further harm. "We're moving to the bridge. We're going to find out what the hell happened."

_**Polith System**_

_**Freelance Freighter, Evasion is Key**_

The computer had calculated that the ship would reach terminal distance from the star in about half a standard hour. Hardly enough time to make a thorough salvaging of the ship, but enough to at least get a peek at the strange behemoth.

Ricc wasn't reading any life signs anywhere on the ship, but then again, it was proving remarkably resistant to any normal means of scanning. It made him hesitant to actually set foot into any stable deck, but he doubted he would even have time to do so. He would have to be content with the debris field instead. Whatever metal that was floating out there would be worth quite a bit to any scientists back at the Republic Academies. He smiled at the thought of watching doctors and professors fight over his salvage.

He moved his freighter in slowly as to make sure he didn't attract too much attention or fly carelessly into a chunk of the ship. He tuned the motion scanner to a higher definition frequency and transferred the imaging to the vacant co-pilot seat.

His scanner picked up a large pool of high-temperature plasma nearby, which he avoided without difficulty.

"Probably hyperdrive coolant." He surmised, yet it was a cool electric blue instead of the normal green usually found in such large ships. His biological scan pinged with hundreds contacts for a moment, but turned complete black once more. Ricc sighed. "All the more reason not to get too close."

_**Date and Time: Unknown/ **__**ERROR**__** / Mission Clock + 2: 07: 26**_

_**Star System: Unknown**_

_**Covenant Corvette, Ardent Prayer**_

When Lieutenant Healy finally woke, he wasn't in the hallway he last remembered being in before he blacked out. Instead, he was on the bridge that they had cleared out during the mission. He rubbed his head and groaned as he got up.

"Good of you to rejoin the living, sir." Corporal Bryant said from the holographic large projector closest to him. "I would love to give you a pain killer, but we're shorthanded as it is."

"Make sense, damn it." Healy growled as he walked up to the large three-dimensional image of what he assumed was a star, but not Epsilon Eridani. It was a deeper orange and somewhat brighter.

"We're still working out the details, but we do know that we're nowhere near Reach anymore." Bryant continued. "We made a jump to some random ass star system in the middle of nowhere. McCarrey's got us control of some of the ship systems, and we're trying to get propulsion working again."

Lieutenant Healy nodded for a moment, but then frowned. "What systems do we have control of?"

"Power grid, some parts of navigation, and life support."

"Perfect." Healy said before switching to COM. "McCarrey, depressurize all compartments besides the bridge and hangar."

"_Belay that order, corporal._" The gruff voice of Noble Five came over the COM. "_Lieutenant, we've already done that. There aren't any more Covies on this ship. Alive, that is._"

"Ah. I see." Healy said flatly.

"_I need you near the front to the bridge, Lieutenant. Alone." _Noble Five said, putting emphasis on the last word. Healy wasted no time walking towards the cluster of consoles near the front of the bridge. Noble Five stood, looking out the viewport, unmoving.

"Yes, sir?" Healy asked his superior officer.

"Lieutenant, how much time have you clocked in space outside of Reach?" Noble Five asked, seemingly randomly. It came as an extremely odd question to Healy.

"Um, I don't really know exact time logged, but I've been in three campaigns outside Reach." Healy answered, remembering his time on Charybdis and Arcadia.

"Have you ever stopped and looked at the stars? The constellations?"

"No, sir. I haven't." Healy answered.

"Then you're going to have to take my word on this," Jorge sighed and finally turned to Healy. "We're not in our galaxy anymore. I see it and the star charts confirm it. The damned bomb sent us further than any Slipspace drive has in the history of man."

Healy couldn't believe this. "What? Sir, we couldn't have possibly traveled to another galaxy in a half hour."

"If I knew why, I would tell you." The Spartan said gruffly. "But at the moment, we're standing on one of the biggest discoveries in technology. And we're eons away from anyone who actually cares."

Thoughts raced through Healy's mind. If they we're here, then it would mean they were never getting back to Reach. Back to home. He had family at home and he couldn't protect them. He was now suddenly surrounded by the unknown.

"I, uh, guess I'll tell the men." Lieutenant Healy said.

"Please do." Noble Five said, returning to the viewport .

_**Polith System**_

_**Freelance Freighter, Evasion is Key**_

Ricc decided that he should at least try to contact the ship, granted its communications array was still functioning. A simple bounce-back signal would do in this case. Nothing too flashy to gain the attention of other ships nearby Polith I, but enough to try and illicit a response from the hulking mass.

He waited a minute or so, closing his eyes and stretching out in his seat, before a call came up on the holo-terminal.

_Odd. It's too early for the ship to be responding,_ he thought as he accepted the call.

"_Andolo, you hutt-slime. Where the hell is my spice?" _Saidthe livid human male on the holo-terminal.

"I ran into a little snag on my route." Ricc sighed. "I'll get them to you sooner than you know it, Jek."

"_You do realize that if this shipment is late again, I'm burning your contract." _Jek clarified angrily. "_That little ship of yours will be impounded by the end of the week."_

"Yeah, yeah. Look. I'll be there. Meanwhile, enjoy all Tatooine has to offer, my friend." Ricc said before cancelling the call.

"_Tatooine doesn't-," _Jek's hologram said before disappearing from the now dim panel.

"And that's why I like you, Jek. Always the nice guy." Ricc rolled his eyes and dozed off once more.

_**Date and Time: Unknown/ **__**ERROR**__** / Mission Clock + 2: 11: 41**_

_**Star System: Unknown**_

_**Covenant Corvette, Ardent Prayer**_

"'Superior technology', my ass." Corporal McCarrey said as he finally got control of the ships engines, sensors, and communications all at the same time. "Bryant, make sure to remind me to thank ONI for their little miracle pad. All systems are a go, boss."

"Try to get us clear of this debris, Corporal. With the hull intact, preferably." Noble Five ordered, double-checking that the navigation systems were online.

"Uh, yeah. Hull intact. No problem." McCarrey said nervously as he tried to make sense of what controls did what. Bryan peeked over McCarrey's shoulder and smirked.

"Having trouble there, genius?"

"No. These just weren't in the combat-sims is all." McCarrey answered, confident that the button he just pressed was the accelerator. The ship seemed to lurch sideways and collide with something, shaking the entire ship. McCarrey looked around frantically at the console. "Um, maybe this one?"

The ship stopped leaning sideways and instead began moving forward towards the system's sun.

"Pee-wee, we're getting closer!" Bryant exclaimed, the star suddenly growing in size on the viewport.

"Shut up, I need to concentrate!" McCarrey retorted as he seared through the datapad for the control designations. The ship suddenly decelerated as he keyed in what looked like their best bet.

"A little shaky for my liking, but good work, corporal." Healy said, leaning on the nearby wall for support. "Bryant, it's time for some info. What are we picking up on scans? Dropships?"

"Not from what I'm reading, sir." Bryant said, rotating a holographic figure of the ship's sensor range. "Damn. There's so much shit going through here, I can barely tell what's what. Wait. I'm getting something."

"Enlighten me." Healy said, walking over to the terminal.

"Definitely a ship, sir. Electronics, propulsion, and even sensors. But it's not in any of the Covenant data files." Bryant reported. "Not a civie ship, sir. None of the configurations match."

"McCarrey, look for any out-bound communications." Said Noble Five, coming out of nowhere, much to the surprise of McCarrey.

"Nothing on UNSC bands or Covenant Battlenet. I'm receiving _something_, but it's impossible to decode." McCarrey said. "These symbols are not part of any language we know of."

"Try using that little 'miracle pad' you were so proud of a minute ago." Bryant suggested.

"It's good at translating known languages, not new ones." McCarrey sighed before turning to Noble Five. "It's useless, sir."

"What about audio or visual transmission? Could we send a signal to them?" Noble Five suggested, folding his arms.

McCarrey returned to his station. "Maybe. If I can just trace the transmissions to their source… there." McCarrey smiled at his work and began the audio transmission sequence. "I hope you're good at diplomacy, sir. We may have another alien race on our hands."

"Let's just hope they aren't like the Covenant." Jorge responded half-jokingly.

_**Polith System**_

_**Freelance Freighter, Evasion is Key**_

Ricc was once again rudely interrupted of his sleep by the sound of an incoming holo-call. If it was Jek again, he wouldn't be answering. He cold only take so many threats in one day.

Curiously, the transmission wasn't coming from anywhere out-system. It was coming from the alien ship.


	3. Urgent First Contact

_**Date and Time: Unknown/ **__**ERROR**__** / Mission Clock + 2: 15: 07**_

_**Star System: Unknown**_

_**Covenant Corvette, Ardent Prayer**_

"I don't think they're going to respond, El-Tee." Bryant said to his CO as they watched McCarrey monitor for any response to their transmission.

"You never know." Healy grunted, removing a piece of metallic debris that had fallen onto the holoterminal. "Give me a hand, will you?"

"So," Bryant said as he hefted one side of the rubbish. "What do you think they're going to look like this time?"

"Probably squid-faces again." Healy suggested.

"See, my money is on bug aliens. There's quite a few of those in the Covenant." Bryant added as the two threw the debris to a corner of the bridge.

"How much do you want to bet, Corporal?" Healy asked with a condescending tone.

"Fifty credits."

"You're on." Healy replied. He had always maintained a good relationship with his men, the lucky combination being both playful remarks and the desire to kill as many aliens as they could count. Ever since the squad's first op, morale was never a problem.

But now that the squad had been reduced to thirty percent fighting strength, he wondered how much morale they really had left.

The ship had been in even worse shape than they had originally thought. Reports from all systems included some type of warning or another, and it was only a matter of time before their surprising survival met an immediate end.

The Pelican was beyond repair with the tools they had and the Sabres were all but debris floating debris in space. More than anything at the moment, than needed to find some transport other than the ship they had at the moment.

"Transmission is a go!" McCarrey alerted the personnel on the bridge. "Coming up on holoterminal now!"

Secretly, Bryant was crossing his fingers for his prediction to be true, even if just for the satisfaction of winning the bet.

However, much to the surprise of the bridge crew, the alien ship's pilot was not an insectoid or cephalopod-faced. It was clearly a human. The responder was in turn just as surprised at the appearance of the soldiers.

"Aw, you've got to be kidding me." The human male said, facepalming at the sight. "Pirates here already? Just when I think I'm the lucky one for once."

The crew remained speechless. The image of another human this far out in space was the last thing they had thought they would see. Jorge was the first to break from this stupor, turning to the Corporal McCarrey.

"The star charts confirmed us to be outside our galaxy, correct?" Jorge asked, looking for an answer to this unforeseen encounter.

"Yes, sir! Fourteen-point-seven million light years, sir." McCarrey answered, reciting the approximate distance from their current position to the nearest quadrant of UNSC-controlled space. "This doesn't make any sense!"

"Look, I was just taking a look at the wreck and I'm about to head off. No need for any of you to waste energy on me." The human said with an uneasy smirk.

"Just wait a second." Jorge said sternly to the holo as he prioritized his questions as they came into existence. "What are you doing out here?"

"I was just out here looking at the wreck. I wasn't trying to steal any of your salvage or anything." The man said defensively.

"What do you make of this, lieutenant?" Jorge asked Healy.

"I… don't know, sir. One possibility is that he's keeping something from us about where we are and what's going on." Healy stated his hypothesis with some uncertainty. "But, from what we know as of now, we may have just discovered human life in another galaxy."

"Hey, I'm hearing a lot of conversation back there. Care to drop the whole 'secretive' tone here?" The human said with noticeably growing impatience.

Jorge moved himself closer to the holoterminal's viewing area. The man on the other end of the call widened his eyes a bit at the gargantuan, fully-armored Spartan.

"They feed you well where you come from, eh?" The man commented.

"I suppose." Jorge went along with the quip. "I am Spartan Jorge-052 of the United Nations Space Command. These men are Corporal Bryant, Corporal McCarrey, and Lieutenant Healy of the same. We're in quite a predicament right now, mister…"

"Ricc Andolo." Ricc answered with a raised eyebrow. "Care to explain your 'predicament', Spartan Jorge-052?"

"I can see how it would be farfetched in your point of view, Mister Andolo, but we aren't from this galaxy." Jorge did his best to communicate clearly with the man. Considering the fact that they were speaking the same verbal language was surprising enough.

"You're joking, right?" Ricc said with a scoff. "Outside this system? I would believe _that_. Outside the galaxy? No way in hell!"

"Please stick with me, Mister Andolo." Jorge said, keeping his voice calm and relatively gentle. "We are not of this galaxy. If you require proof, we have star charts, logs, and whatever else you need to reassure yourself. However, getting back to the topic at hand, we need desperately need help."

"Help? Look, friend, I've enough things on my schedule as it is." Ricc said. "I'm not about to take my precious time to help some crazy people claiming to come from another galaxy."

"Sir, engines three and four just hit critical status! The Slipspace drive on this hunk of shit just did something real nasty with its fuel!" McCarrey reported as alarms reverberated throughout the corridors of the ship, sending a cold chill down everyone's spine. "They've already taken one hell of a beating from the _Savannah_. Even if we do vent the plasma… God damn it!"

"Ricc whatever-the-hell-your-name-is, we need assistance ASAP." Healy yelled at the holoprojection. Ricc's face turned from its uneasy smugness to a look of true concern.

"Fierfek…" Ricc ran his hands through his rather short brown hair. "All right, dammit, fine. Just tell me where to land."

"On either side of the ship there should be an energy shield for the hangar. Land in the port side of the hangar and we'll be able to board there." McCarrey directed, closing off his interface on the console and removing the datapad from the wiring.

"Just make it quick." Ricc said before dropping the call.

"Sir, we have ten minutes before this ships starts to tear itself apart." McCarrey said, jogging back over to rejoin the group.

"Then we use that time to haul every scrap of ammo and equipment we can from the Pelican." Jorge nodded. "Healy and Bryant, you're on ammo and weapons detail. McCarrey, I'm trusting you to make sure we don't leave anything of use on the Pelican. Recover all the logs as per the Cole Protocol and wipe it clean afterward."

"Yes, sir!" Replied the three marines.

By the time the soldiers had made their way to the hangar, a ship was already inside the hangar bay, boarding ramp open with a more than animated Ricc Andolo. The ship was far different than any civie ship Jorge had seen, much uglier and prism-shaped. Colored a dull bronze, it was hardly the most luxurious-looking freighter in the universe.

"I'm sticking my neck out for you, you know that right?" Ricc said as the marines passed by to perform their assigned duties.

"Buddy, keep your trap shut and give us a hand with this." Healy grunted as he packed up a large case of DMRs and ammunition. Bryant busied himself with moving a large crate of grenades off of the Pelican. Ricc sighed and rushed over to help.

Within five minutes, most of the equipment had been successfully loaded onto Ricc's freighter. Everything ranging from SPNKr missiles to magnums was sealed away in the main cargo hold along with numerous crates already in there.

"Slugthrowers? You all are strange, I'll give you that." Ricc commented as the last weapons crate was loaded onto the ship.

"McCarrey, time to go!" Bryant yelled from the boarding ramp. Just then, the ship shook as though it had been hit by MAC round, sending a jogging McCarrey to his knees.

"Shit shit shit!" He said, running up the ramp to escape the collapsing hangar bay. He felt the freighter lift itself from the floor and watched the boarding ramp close behind him. Soon, the ship was clear of the Covenant Corvette, which drifted lifelessly towards the system's sun.

As Bryant and McCarrey found their way to the rather compact bridge of the freighter, they saw that Noble Five and the lieutenant were already speaking with Andolo.

"-again for helping us back there. I don't know what we would have done, otherwise." Healy said to Ricc.

"Don't mention it." Ricc said. "But right now I think you owe me one thing: who are you all?"

**{A/N}**

**Sorry for the long delay of a rather short chapter, but I needed to attend to other matters before actually having time to write.**

**All shall become much clearer within the next chapter, much of it will advance the plot significantly.**

**Thank you all for so many favorites and reviews within such a short time period and on my first story!**

**I appreciate you all.**

**Keep it clean, everybody!**

**{End A/N}**


	4. What Lies Beneath

**_Date and Time: Unknown/ __ERROR__ / Mission Clock + 2: 38: 19_**

**_Star System: Unknown_**

**_Covenant Corvette, Ardent Prayer_**

"I just want you to give it to me straight," Ricc said calmly as he leaned against one of the cargo crates the strange humans had brought on board. "Are you Mandalorians? I know you bucket heads are real secretive and stuff, but I don't need-"

"What the hell is a Mandalorian?" Bryant interrupted with a sneer.

"Shut up, Corporal. " Healy ordered.

"Big armored up guys? Military-grade weapons? There isn't a whole lot of that stuff lying around for grabs, you know." Ricc said. "Especially you, big guy. You look like you're the cream of the crop. What do they feed you?"

"Soy protein." Jorge answered evenly.

"Get me some of that stuff." Ricc shook his head disbelievingly.

"We're actually part of the military back where we came from." Healy offered, trying to steer the conversation back on its original course.

"Which is from where, exactly?"

"We already-" Bryant said angrily as Jorge glared at him, quieting the soldier.

"When we were talking earlier, we meant that we weren't really part of the _known _galaxy." Jorge half-lied. "We're from the outer-most area of it. There are other systems like that, correct?"

"You mean the Unknown Regions? Yeah, that makes more sense." Ricc sighed. "Here I thought you were spewing something else entirely."

All the marines looked quizzically at the Spartan, who paid them and their facial expressions no heed.

"Could you provide us transport?" Jorge asked.

"You mean my ship? Sorry, pal. Not going to happen." Ricc shot down the idea with blinding speed. He began walking to the other containers already stacked up in the ship's cargo hold. "This pretty lady is my lifeblood right now."

"How else could we get our hands on a ship with an FTL drive?" Jorge inquired.

"You could always buy a ship." Ricc suggested flatly as he tripped over a small crate of frag grenades. "Frak!"

"We don't have any money in your standard." Jorge replied.

"Steal. I meant steal a ship." Ricc said, picking himself off the bulkhead. "That's probably one of your better options."

"We couldn't pilot the ship." Jorge rattled off yet another problem from his mental list.

"Then I guess you're going to have to just stay put then, huh?" Ricc stated with growing irritation. "I'm not risking my neck and my ship for some people I met literally half an hour ago."

"This is bullshit." McCarrey said in exasperation.

"At least give us something to work with." Jorge asked.

"Look, my hands are pretty damn full." Ricc vented. "I've got my employer breathing down my neck for a shipment of spice that was due two weeks ago, a ship in need of some serious maintenance, and four war-equipped lunatics asking to hitch a ride!"

Ricc rubbed his temples as he paced back and forth. The ship, upon closer examination, did indeed look like it had seen better days. The walls of the cargo room were dented in several places, gray paint fading and chipping at various areas. The large, black canisters Ricc was apparently transporting littered the floor haphazardly.

"I'll tell you what," Ricc's face lighted up considerably. "I can drop you off on the planet I'm already heading to. From there, we'll figure this out as we go."

Seeing as there were no other options to be found through the conversation, Jorge nodded at the proposition.

"We'll leave you to pilot your ship then." He acknowledged.

"Make yourselves comfortable. We have a few hours." Ricc said before walking through the retracting door that led to the cockpit.

* * *

"I'm just saying," Bryant motioned for McCarrey and his superior officer to calm down. "We could always just kill him and take the ship. No one has to know."

This wasn't particularly one of his best ideas he had ever come up with, and his fellow marines would have none of the nonsense. McCarrey had his hand on his head, a new headache coming into existence.

"Enjoy flying the alien ship, smartass," Healy's voice was drenched in sarcasm. "I'm sure you'll figure out all the do-dads and such through the instructions manual, eh?"

"Hey, it's better than leaving Reach to the Covies!" Bryant exclaimed. "I know we're not worth much on the payroll, but we've got a Spartan in mint condition with us. He's got more kills than the rest of the battalion ever had, sir. You know that. HIGHCOM needs all the killing machines they can get."

"We're not leaving Reach to the Covenant, Corporal." Healy said. "We've already got a plan at this point: Get to Ricc's planet."

"That's not much of a plan, sir."

"We have a good chance of coming up with a better one somewhere with some real dirt. Thinking up plans is always better on the ground," Healy sneered. "That's why all strategies made by the Navy suck ass."

McCarrey chuckled softly at the statement as Bryant thought through it. Their options were extremely limited in their current state. Trying to force a plan wouldn't solve anything.

"I'll give you that, sir." Bryant conceded.

"Damn straight." Healy said as the doors to the cockpit opened to reveal a calmer-looking Ricc Andolo.

"Corporal McCarrey?" Ricc asked, trying to pick out who was who. "The big guy needs you and your datapad. Something about downloading all the information you can get on the galaxy and such."

"At least it's something to do." McCarrey said, lifting himself up from the UNSC supply crate he was sitting on.

"I would have liked to stay at the controls, but that Spartan guy takes up half the space in there." Ricc smirked as McCarrey left the cargo hold. "I suppose it wouldn't be so bad to get to know you both."

"And that's my cue to take inventory." Healy said quickly, moving himself to the other side of the room containing most of the salvaged containers from the Pelican. Bryant shifted uneasily on his crate.

"I'm not great with names. You're…" Ricc prompted Bryant to finish the rest of the sentence.

"Corporal Nolan Bryant" Bryant answered.

"Right. So, Nolan, what's with the slugthrowers? Haven't you guys developed lasers or plasma rifles yet?" Ricc inquired.

"Some of the spec ops types take all the real goodies, but yeah. We have laser weaponry and some use of plasma, but for construction purposes." Bryant said, the word plasma coming off almost as a word of disgust. "The aliens we were fighting before we came here are the ones who make full use of plasma as weapons."

"The Covenant, right?"

"Right." Bryant assured.

"You don't see a lot of projectile weapons in the galaxy. Pretty gory beasts, from what I hear." Ricc said, moving the conversation along. "You ever get tired of reloading every few seconds?"

"You don't want to know." Bryant cracked a smile. "What? And you don't?"

"Blasters last a long while. I don't remember the last time I had to change ammo." Ricc answered. "Would you ever want to try out a blaster?"

Bryant cocked an eyebrow. "Why are you being so chit-chatty with me?"

"Because I heard your little idea about tossing me out the airlock via the ship's surveillance system." Ricc said with a hint of bitterness. "I'd prefer to be on your good side than having the constant possibility of you putting a slug in my chest."

"Sorry 'bout that, by the way." Bryant said apologetically.

"It's no problem. You're not the only one." Ricc said, walking towards one corner of the hold and feeling around on the floor with his foot. Finally his foot found purchase on a concealed button on the bulkhead, lifting up a small portion of it.

Ricc reached down into the hole and brought up what seemed to be a black pistol. Its design was blocky and familiar yet exotic to Bryant.

"Think of this as a gift in the hope of friendship." Ricc tossed the blaster to Bryant, who caught it in mid-air.

"What am I supposed to do with this? I already have a sidearm, pal." Bryant asked, examining the weapon closely.

"I think you might like this just a bit more. It's a SoroSubb A-20 blaster. Well maintained." Ricc informed. "Got it real cheap from a black market dealer, so you know it's good."

"Right." Bryant said. "Speaking of shady dealings, what're you transporting in those canisters? Alcohol? Explosives?"

"Spice." Ricc answered.

"I'm not going to pretend like I know what that is." Bryant said as he inspected his new blaster more thoroughly.

"A narcotic. Hallucinogen. Nasty stuff, I tell you." Ricc explained. "But damn expensive. Great way for people to make money if you've got nothing left to lose."

"I'm guessing it's illegal?"

"Oh, incredibly. Especially glitterstim. That stuff can kill you after the second use." Ricc chuckled.

"Haven't you ever gotten caught?" Braynt asked with a scoff.

"With spice? No, never." Ricc answered. "The Republic's too lax with the main hyperspace lanes and they're basically non-existent on the lesser-traveled routes."

"Sounds like your government is crap."

"It's not great." Ricc conceded. "It's child's play for someone, anyone, to do some illegal work for the cartels and pirates. Those black market dealers and gangs pretty much rule everything. Out here, _they're _the authorities."

"Well let's make sure we don't get on their bad side." Bryant said.

"Yeah."

**_Date and Time: Unknown_**

**_Star System: Tatoo System, Tatooine_**

**_Anchorhead, Docking Bay 19_**

"Ricc, I swear that when you touchdown, I'm going to punch you in the gut." Jek Tarr muttered to himself as he futilely tried for the fourth time to reach Ricc Andolo on his holocommunicator.

It wasn't easy trying to eke out a living dealing with shady corporations. He wasn't much of an entrepreneur, nor was he adept in haggling. His options for a career that _didn't_ involve moisture farming numbered in few.

He had two other smugglers to worry about, but at least they had delivered their shipments on time and with about the same amount of cargo they were supposed to have started off with.

Ricc was cutting into profits, and Jek's employers did not like cut profit one bit.

He practically owned Docking Bay 19, albeit the actual document. That had been lost in a "freak arson attack" on the previous owner. Jek hoped that if he did his job as a middle-man as he should, he wouldn't be targeted for one such attack.

"Jek, my friend." A low voice sounded behind him.

Jek turned his head from the computer terminal of arrivals and departures to see that the voice belonged to his current employer, Niko.

The tall Iridonian looked anything but pleased to see Jek, his four bodyguards behind him looking rather restless about something. Niko headed the corporation responsible for at least a third of the illegal dealings on Tatooine, the Hutts notwithstanding.

"Mister Niko, I was just going to tell you that your cargo will be here within the next few hours." Jek reported, trying to rid the bodyguards and their aggressive demeanor from his mind.

"It's been two weeks. Three weeks if you count the original supply date." Niko said softly but aggressively. "We've missed out on seventy thousand credits in that time to the damn Hutts."

"I know Ricc is always a bit late, but he gets the job done well enough. The cargo is always there and in the right quantity." Jek shifted nervously.

"I want you to give me a reason why I shouldn't burn you and your contract here and now." Niko stated forcefully, his guards reaching for their blasters. Jek began to panic.

"But I… I mean I just, you see-" Jek sputtered.

It wasn't one of the bodyguards that pulled the trigger on their blasters, but Niko. The crimson red bolt drilled its way into Jek's chest, killing him instantly.

Jek's lifeless body fell onto the sand in a loud thump, the dust settling on his mesh jacket.

"Incompetent fool." Niko spat as he holstered his blaster pistol.

**{A/N}**

**Please forgive me, readers, at this unprecedented delay. My personal life (Yes, I do have one, surprisingly.) has only just recently calmed down to the point to where I can focus again on this story.**

**I won't go into details, but I ope you can understand and forgive me.**

**I hope you enjoyed the chapter, the next one will definitely be longer.**

**Keep it clean!**

**{END A/N}**


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